Robotic animal combos show how
engineers look to biology for inspiration

Robotic animals that fuse ideas from
artificial intelligence, engineering and biotechnology are central to
the work of the new artist in residence at the Intelligent Automated
Systems laboratory (IAS Lab) at the University of the West of England,
Bristol. Senior Lecturer Dr Dylan Evans has won a grant from the
Leverhulme Trust to bring the digital artist, France Cadet (also known
as ‘Cyber-doll’) to work at the IAS Lab.

During her residency, Ms Cadet will
construct a multi-robot installation called ‘Dog(Lab)02’, a follow-up to
a highly successful prize-winning installation entitled ‘Dog (Lab)01’
which attracted international acclaim. For Dog(Lab)01 Ms Cadet created
a series of different robotic animals by hacking some popular
cyber-toys. Each robotic animal was a chimera – a combination of
several animals. For example, the ‘Dolly’ robot was half dog, 30% ewe,
15% cow, and 5% sheep. As the name suggests, Ms Cadet's robots raise
questions about the opportunities and dangers presented by contemporary
experiments in biotechnology such as cloning. In 1996, scientists
announced that they had successfully cloned the first mammal, a sheep
named Dolly. The real Dolly lived a normal life, but Ms Cadet's robotic
version was programmed to manifest the symptoms of “mad cow disease” (BSE),
which reminds us that scientific optimism about the potential benefits
of biotechnology need to be tempered with caution about the potential
dangers.

Ms Cadet said: “During my residency at
UWE I am planning to make a whole pack of robotic cow-dogs that will
appear to suffer from BSE in unison. By using a whole pack of robotic
dogs, the aim is to create a much more frightening impression than was
possible with the single dog of Dog(Lab)01, which often inspired
amusement – something I did not intend.”

Dr Dylan Evans from the IAS Lab will be
working closely with France . He said, “This project will be very
exciting for all of us. We hope to exhibit Dog(Lab)02 in Bristol in
2006. Ms Cadet's work demonstrates how increasingly engineers in
robotics are looking to nature and biotechnology to break new ground.
For example, my colleagues here at the IAS Lab have built a robot that
gets its energy by eating flies, and robots that fly in flocks like
birds.”

During her residency, Ms Cadet will construct a
multi-robot installation called ‘Dog(Lab)02’, a follow-up to a highly
successful prize-winning installation entitled
Dog (Lab)01 which
attracted international acclaim.

For Dog(Lab)01 Ms Cadet created a series of different robotic animals by
hacking some popular cyber-toys. Each robotic animal was a chimera – a
combination of several animals. For example, the ‘Dolly’ robot was half
dog, 30% ewe, 15% cow, and 5% sheep. As the name suggests, Ms Cadet's
robots raise questions about the opportunities and dangers presented by
contemporary experiments in biotechnology such as cloning. In 1996,
scientists announced that they had successfully cloned the first mammal,
a sheep named Dolly. The real Dolly lived a normal life, but Ms Cadet's
robotic version was programmed to manifest the symptoms of “mad cow
disease” (BSE), which reminds us that scientific optimism about the
potential benefits of biotechnology need to be tempered with caution
about the potential dangers.

For
Dog(Lab)02, Ms Cadet is planning to make a whole pack of robotic
cow-dogs that will appear to suffer from BSE in unison. By using a whole
pack of robotic dogs, the aim is to create a much more frightening
impression than was possible with the single dog of Dog(Lab)01, which
often inspired amusement – something she did not intend.